"Conduct Against Essence Of Womanhood, Designed To Disturb Communal Harmony": Delhi Court Denies Bail To Neeraj Bishnoi In Bulli Bai App Case

A Delhi Court this week denied bail to Neeraj Bishnoi, a 21 year old arrested from Assam in connection with Bulli Bai App case observing that his sardonic conduct of targeting women journalists of a particular community on a social platform is not only against the essence of womanhood but also an act designed to disturb the communal harmony.

Additional Sessions Judge Dharmender Rana denied bail to Bishnoi who, as the police claimed at the time of arrest, to be the conspirator and creator of the Bulli Bai App on GitHub.

"The sardonic conduct of the applicant/accused in targeting women journalists of a particular community, using offensive monkers with derogatory communal overtones, on a social platform is not only an offence against the essence of womanhood but also an act designed to enrage passion and cause ill will amongst communities and disturb communal harmony. Allegations against the applicant/accused are serious in nature," the Court said.

The Judge also found no merit in the bail application and rejected the same by saying that the investigation was at a nascent stage and that the allegations were serious in nature.

Further noting that around 100 women journalists of a particular community were targeted by the accused persons in the matter to be abused and insulted on a public platform, the Court said:

"The act is certainly going to have an adverse impact upon the communal harmony of a society wherein a woman has been deified since time immemorial and any attempt to scornfully objectify them is certainly going to invite vehement resistance from the community at large."

It added "Suffice, it would be to observe that the IT Act is not meant to supplant the Indian Penal Code. If the argument of the defence counsel is accepted then any mischievous criminal, in order to avoid his liability under the stringent provisions of IPC, while committing a heinous offence, would simply use an electronic device and then would claim that he is not liable for punishment under the stringent provisions of IPC."

The development came after Bishnoi was denied bail earlier this month by the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate. While denying him bail, the Court had observed that the act was an "affront to the dignity of the women of particular community and communal harmony of the society".

Bulli Bai App Creation "An Affront To Dignity Of Women Of Particular Community" : Delhi Court Denies Bail To Neeraj Bishnoi

Bishnoi is a resident of Assam's Jorhat area and is a student pursuing B. Tech from Vellore Institute of Technology, Bhopal. He was remanded to 7 days police custody earlier this month.

He was produced by the Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations unit (IFSO) unit yesterday at the Magistrate's house at night.

The Bulli Bai App is similar to the 'Sulli Deals' which also resulted in a controversy last year by offering 'sullis', a derogatory word trolls would use for Muslim women. GitHub was also the host for that App.

The FIR was registered against relevant handles and the developer of Bulli Bai for offences under Sections 153A (promoting enmity on grounds of religion etc), 153B (imputations prejudicial to nationallyntegration), 295A (insulting religious beliefs), 354D (stalking), 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman), 500 (criminal defamation) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 67 (publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form) of Information Technology Act.

The case came to the fore after innumerable prominent Muslim women found themselves up for auction on the App hosted by GitHub. Many women found that their doctored images were put up on the App for "auction."

The women included prominent journalists, social activists and lawyers.

According to an NDTV report, the lady was handling three accounts in the Bulli Bai App. Jha opened an account called Khalsa Supremacist, apparently to make it look like this was a Khalistani attack. Then, on December 31, he changed the names of the accounts to make them sound like they allegedly belonged to a particular community.